Holders Sweden stayed on track for a World Team Cup title defense in Duesseldorf on Tuesday, building up an unassailable 2-0 lead against the US.
Sweden, who also beat France 2-1 in the red group, grabbed the lead when Andreas Vinciguerra made a mockery of being ranked 599 places behind Robby Ginepri and downed the American 7-5, 6-4 after trailing 5-2 in the first set.
Robin Soderling dropped only four games as he eased past Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-2 to eliminate the Americans from the running for the title, as they had also lost to Germany.
Germany’s Rainer Schuettler beat world No. 7 Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4 to give the hosts a 1-0 lead over France.
Schuettler, 33, who had lost his six previous singles matches since, was in fine form against Simon to celebrate his 300th ATP singles victory.
The German was more accurate than in recent matches, taking risks and being rewarded with several crucial baseline winners as Simon played below par.
“Of course this feels great,” a relieved Schuettler said. “But I am more glad that I could help put my country in the lead.”
Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber was to face world No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga yesterday in the other singles rubber.
In the blue group Serbia also took an unassailable 2-0 lead against Russia after Janko Tipsarevic swept past Russian teenager Stanislav Vovk 6-2, 6-4 and Victor Troicki crushed Evgeny Korolev 6-2, 6-2.
Argentina, beaten by Serbia on Monday, grabbed a 1-0 lead over Italy. World No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro swept past Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4.
The tall Argentine gave Seppi no chance, opening up a 4-0 lead in the first set to clinch it 6-3 before breezing through the match in 72 minutes.
■AUSTRIAN OPEN
AP, KITZBUEHEL, AUSTRIA
Second-seeded Juergen Melzer of Austria won 11 straight games on Tuesday to beat Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-3, 6-0 in the first round of the Austrian Open.
Melzer, ranked at a career-high No. 26, will next play 2006 champion Agustin Calleri of Argentina in the clay-court tournament.
Oscar Hernandez of Spain upset fourth-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France 6-2, 6-3, and Stefan Koubek of Austria defeated Philipp Petzschner of Germany 7-6 (8), 6-4. Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina rallied to beat Marc Gicquel of France 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.
Also, Julien Benneteau of France defeated eighth-seeded Dudi Sela of Israel 7-5, 6-1, and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain downed Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-4, 6-3.
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko withdrew earlier on Tuesday with a muscle injury in his left leg. Paul Capdeville of Chile replaced the 10th-ranked Russian and lost 6-3, 6-2 to Diego Junqueira of Argentina.
■STRASBOURG
AP, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain rallied to beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday in the first round at the Strasbourg International.
The top-seeded Garrigues, who also won at Strasbourg in 2005 and 2007, will next face Kristina Barrois of Germany at the clay event.
But four seeded players, including No.5 Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand and No. 6 Elena Vesnina of Russia, lost on a day of upsets.
Tanasugarn lost 6-3, 6-0 to Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine, and Vesnina was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Julie Coin of France.
Also, Monica Niculescu of Romania beat seventh-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia won 6-0, 6-7 (5), 6-3 against No. 8 Nathalie Dechy of France.
Pauline Parmentier of France beat Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2), Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus topped Maret Ani of Estonia 6-3, 7-5, and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic beat Jasmin Woehr of Germany 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Stephanie Foretz of France downed Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-1, 2-6, 6-2.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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